Lessons in Dirt

Some would say that I have lost my mind……I’m ok with that. I know where I put it.

A while back, I had written about how the Mister and I have purchased a plot of land with big intentions, not a lot of knowledge but the love and desire to be free and self-sufficient.

That dream still stands.

Because I do not believe in making empty promises to myself, we have taken some really big steps in the direction of and the education required, to move forward in our dream life.

I now have a vegetable garden. Not some piddly little splat of dirt - but a big girl garden, complete with three raised deep beds measuring 3 foot by 16 foot each. In case you need it, that is 144 sq ft of planting surface that took the Mister and me three solid weeks of digging and turning the earth to get done.

Walking upright was a challenge during that little bit of fun, by the way.

We have built a dual compost tumbler, an herb rack / garden and two cold frames to act as a plant nursery and hardener. We have rain barrels out there collecting every drop we can get and now my plants are all fed a strict diet of earth water only.

I have composting worms. Yeah…I just typed that. W-O-R-M-S.

They are working worms, if you can believe such a thing – and do a fantastic job of turning rotting lettuce, rabbit manure and cardboard into rich, beautiful, black dirt. Thus, recycling and reducing our household footprint has taken on a life of its own.

I now make my own breads, ice cream, butter and buttermilk. I knit, grind my own flour and will build a weaving loom soon for cloth.

Crazy.

The Internet and all of its splendor has been my saving grace.

Yes, I do read a ton of books, magazines and instruction manuals – but nothing compares to the sheer “how to” of the Internet. It has been my classroom and without it, I would still be fumbling around with seeds and a shovel. If you need any ideas on where to go to get information, shoot me an email – I am happy to help.

We still have mountains of things to learn, difficult roads to cross and trust me, not everything works out the first one or two times out of the gate.

For every one vegetable seed that took off this year, I had two refuse to germinate. My family (bless their hearts) have endured some really bad batches of ice cream, rock hard breads, overly dehydrated everything, ideas that never come to pass, insane demands and some pretty hard physical labor.

Our first cold frame broke due to hinges that were too small and one of the panes of glass shattered when I forgot to prop it open and it slammed shut. High winds broke all of my baby plants off at the ground level and dogs refuse to stay out of gardens.

This is nothing compared to a real farm.

With all of that said, the payoffs are many and the sense of doing instead of watching, is HUGE. I love every single second of it, good and bad. I feel alive and at peace when I am working with my hands and enjoy having to figure stuff out.

This to me folks – is living.

MichChick